The illicit dealings include approximately $15 million in cost overruns, possible nepotism and an alleged off-the-books slush fund.

Waste360 Staff, Staff

September 13, 2017

1 Min Read
Zurich, Switzerland’s Trash Department Blamed for Illicit Dealings

Investigators in Zurich, Switzerland, are looking into possible illicit dealings within the city’s municipal garbage and recycling department, including approximately $15 million in cost overruns, possible nepotism and an alleged off-the-books slush fund.

To date, no one has been changed for any of the above allegations, but Urs Pauli, the department’s chief, was fired in June for driving a taxpayer-funded BMW sedan worth more than $100,000 and after a “secret stash” of $226,500 was found in his offices.

Reuters has more:

Investigators in Zurich, ranked among the world’s cleanest cities, are probing alleged grubby dealings within the municipal garbage and recycling department.

While trash services in the United States and Italy have sometimes been linked with illicit dealings, the Swiss financial center appears an unlikely source of muck. Rubbish bins are ubiquitous, and a fleet of motorized street sweepers keeps boulevards nearly spotless.

But so far Zurich has unearthed irregular accounting surrounding some $15 million in cost overruns on one of its marquee projects, possible nepotism and an alleged off-the-books slush fund, according to a series of reports released last week.

Read the full story here.

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